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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23627470">Helping the neighborhood.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seerofscratch/pseuds/Seerofscratch'>Seerofscratch</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRacoonFromTheGarbageCan/pseuds/TheRacoonFromTheGarbageCan'>TheRacoonFromTheGarbageCan</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>the clock with a voice [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Homestuck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Dreams and Nightmares, No idea where I'll take this, Post-Nuclear War, Post-War, Trickster Gods, angry dave strider, mention's of war, super powers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 18:15:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,273</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23627470</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seerofscratch/pseuds/Seerofscratch, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRacoonFromTheGarbageCan/pseuds/TheRacoonFromTheGarbageCan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave is a highschooler living his day to day life,he does his usual routine of get up,cover up his bruises and cuts with make up,go to school,after school go to an abondened building that's a front for a type of fight club,knock people out and become a superhero,oh and he goes against the government,even in an apocalyptic future the government is still a problem.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Nepeta Leijon/Equius Zahhak</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>the clock with a voice [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1730692</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Furious flames.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You wake up from a cold sweat,you were having a nightmare but you can't seem to remember what it was about oh well must not be important it'll probably never be an important subject anyway you get up and make yourself something to eat before your bro is out of his room meeting with him in the mornings usually lead to confrontation or as you and him call it a strider,you avoid your bro as much as possible these days he's been in a really bad mood lately you want to ask him about it but he's probably not gonna want to actually talk anytime soon oh well you'll just focus on your school work for right now speaking of you have to leave soon.</p><p>You head into the bathroom to apply makeup to your scratches and bruises it doesn't take long living with bro has made you used to a few things like being constantly aware of your surroundings and observing people on the street to gauge their strength.</p><p>You'd message one of your friends but your computer got smashed in the last strife,you have about ten more minutes before you should head to school so you double cheek everything and get your katana, schools are supposed to Check your strife specibus but they don't because one)nobody has time for it 2)this is america 3)theirs been large gatherings and demonstrations in support of students keeping their specibus on them at all time honestly you could care less you'd find a way to keep your weapon on you,after everything things taken care of you leave the apartment and flash-step down the stairs as fast as you can near the second flight you trip and fall down a flight,a casual observer says he warn you bout stair to which you replay "I told you dawg" you both have a chuckle.</p><p>When you get to school you have a look around for your friends a hipster like you and someone who's constantly annoying the ever-loving shit out of you "how's it going Nero and Etta"</p><p>Nero is the friendly hipster to your cool kid while Etta likes to annoy the shit out of you the only reason you and Nero stand her is...... actually you don't know why you stand her you just do,you can't remember why it just feels like you have too,you'll remember eventually it may take some time though,oh well.</p><p>A few moments later the Bell rings and the three of you disperse you head to one of you classes while your friends probably skip theirs, actually now that you think about you only see them in the morning and on rare occasions like holidays and when you have bad strife's with bro....... probably nothing.</p><p>After school you head to a repair shop for your computer the repairs sound like they'll be costly but that's better than you trying to fix it yourself once your done their you head back home.</p><p>"Think fast"as soon as you open the door your bro throws one of his shurikans at you and you just barely catch it before it lodges it's self into your eye,your just glad he didn't throw it at full strength"hey bro,how was your day."</p><p>"As good as it'll ever get, hows school,I mean I don't really care but I prefer not to get involved."your bro doesn't care much about anything anymore but he always had a hatred for school"it's going fine I'm keeping my ear to the ground and nose out of peoples business."</p><p>"Anything interesting going on."</p><p>"I wish,the only interesting things going on right now are rumors and you know how those can be, they're saying stuff like they found a super-powered boy up In Washington who seems to be able to use telepathy.</p><p>"Well that is interesting, alright I'm going back to bed I was only up to get something to eat and greet you,night."</p><p>"Night."you wonder briefly about what other kinds of rumors are ganna surface even if they're obviously fake they're always interesting as shit,you decide to watch TV for awhile while doing homework,your mind asks the question what if the fabled rumors about super people were true...you scoff at the idea and have a laugh,like that shit could ever happen,powers aren't real and even if they were the government would keep it all hush hush because that's what the government does best, lying and taxing.</p><p>After your done with homework you head off to bed.</p>
<hr/><p>Your surrounded by fire,you can feel nothing but heat on your skin,you can see nothing but flames of all colors you smell a foul burning smell your ears ring with the ticking of a clock and the deafening roar of flames.</p><p>The flames rush towards you and wrap around your body burning you alive and yet you feel nothing as if your nerves have been scorched off,after a few minutes there are no more flames but instead a clock that speak with two voice one being like a mix of grinding gears,high pitched screaming and glass breaking,the other is more soothing and inviting like a gentleman drinking tea with a friend,you don't trust them.</p><p>"I wasn't expecting you so soon or maybe I was,hello knight or should I call you something else,would you prefer Dave?"</p><p>"......yeah Dave works fine...thanks"</p><p>"Your welcome,you may refer to me as......zeit,it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Dave,sorry about your entrance to this dream,no worries you should be fine when you wake up,you may have a higher pain talorance though although with your situation I don't think you'll mind."</p><p>"Ok sweet sounds awesome anything else I should know about"</p><p>"I honestly have no idea your the only one who survived the fires of eternal vigor,there could be a few million different things changing within you as we speak or there could be nothing but I highly doubt that as you didn't just survive  the fire but it seems as if you swallowed it with your entire being,tell you what I'll give you this so we can chat again."as soon as he finishes your hand emits a full throb of pain and you look at the back of it to see a tattoo be etched into your skin only to fade.</p><p>"Well our time is up I'm afraid see you in awhile dave,it's been nice talking to you."</p>
<hr/><p>you wake up from another nightmare you can't remember, today's the weekend so you should be fine,you go and have a quick cold shower before calling the repair shop and seeing if your computer is done yet.</p><p>After you get your computer you shot a message to a random friend just to see if anything works,it says it sent but they aren't messaging you back,oh well they're probably just busy.</p><p>When you get back home you cook for bro and you,you whip up some standard breakfast and prepare and apple juice for you and an orange glass of disappointment for bro,you just finish by the time bro comes out"diners ready bro your plates right there along with your juice"</p><p>He just grunts and starts eating,after a few minutes he goes back into his room, lately he's either super angry or super depressed you kinda worry for but at the same time he can be kinda ........yeah that's a whole other problem your not even ganna touch with a ten foot pool,anyways you get on pesterchum and see who's online, everyone is idle so you just shot a text on over to ghosty that basically says fuck you dork hope your having a good day he responds by telling you he's busy handling something then goes offline,oh well,you wonder what you should do now you message Nero at mephistophelianpneuma.it is a redicoulesly long chum handle but he doesn't want to change it so you and what's Etta  have to deal with it.you basically ask him if anything interesting is happening or if today's just a boring day,today's a boring day,you ask if he wants to see a street fight or something,their not hard to find around here,he says he's got nothing better to do</p>
<hr/><p>you and Nero find yourself entering what appears to be an abondend building on the edge of town,you head up  the stairs to the tenth,their is currently a brawl between a fairly buff human and a rather skinny looking high blood troll,hes appears to be a blue blood wearing the symbol of a Sagittarius,while an untrained eye would think he human looks stronger therefore will come out on top,you know better than to underestimate a troll especially a high blood,the human tries to jab the troll but they don't even flinch,the troll strikes back with more speed and much more power then the human was capable of,your not surprised though,the first thing bro taught you was to never underestimate anyone in a fight,that includes the weakest human or troll,especially if they have something they fear more than death or defeat,you kinda pity the human but he had it coming underestimating a troll and a high blood no less,you and Nero make your way to the betting area,you wait for the next match and place your bet on who you think will win,as it turns out the ones winning most of the time are trolls but their appears to be enough humans winning to keep the gamblers on their toes,a little while later you have to find your way to the restroom but one you pass by somebody he bumps into you and then has the gull to say its your fault,long story short you "misplaced" some teeth from his mouth and continued to the bathroom,the bathroom was nice for something that had supposedly been abandoned for a few years you try to do your business but some jackass is trying to talk to you about entering the arena.you promptly knock his teeth out too,there is very little you actually hate,situations where people try to talk you into something is one of those thing unfortunately the man on the ground had body guards.</p><p>"the fuck you think yo'doing punk,ya'know what th'fuck that is"</p><p>"no and frankly i don't give a fuck now get the fuck out of my sight before your on the ground like your boss,or are you interested in picking a fight you cant possibly  win"</p><p>that only seem to anger he trio,the first one advances and tries to swing at you but hes way to slow for you as you demonstrate by quickly garbing his hand mid punch and promptly crushing it the second one doesn't get the hint so you just aim straight the the rib cage the third guy does get it and takes a weapon out,at least hes got a smell for danger,if he has a weapon out you need to have one out to,you take the sword out of the specibus and flash-step to him and strike with the sheath still on,you don't wanna kill anyone and look like an idiot later,k,however you can still here his ribs crack,that's gatta hurt.</p><p>"i fucking warned the three of you,i dare you to try this again,go ahead get up,what don't want to fight anymore,good because this will be the only mercy i show you."</p><p>you step over the third ones limp body before leaning down and cheeking for a pulse,....good hes still alive,you leave the restroom and make your way over to Nero.</p><p>"hey so,sorry in advance but we have to leave like right fucking now or were going to run into a lot of trouble,long story short i wan...cornerd by some jackass in the bathroom"</p><p>"alright yeah that makes sense"</p><p>"what do you mean?"</p><p>"in case you haven't noticed the guards look a little antsy,or have you been looking down this entire time."</p><p>you look up and they do in fact look very worried although their trying to hide it using various means,ok you need to hurry and get out of here and fast before something pops off,its obvious that what their reacting to isn't you and that only worries you more,before you can do that you see  the champion with somebody that looks more than a little relived to see him judging from their body language,you walk over sensing some danger from their area.</p><p>"hey,yo,so you might not have realized it but the guards are tensing up around here,i recommend we all leave,im only telling you this because you won all the fights you've had."</p><p>"equis and this here is nepeta,and you might be...?"</p><p>"dave strider this here is my friend Nero,i thought i may have done something but these guards are way too on edge for just one person."</p><p>"what do you mean you thought you might have done something?what did you do?"</p><p>"ill have to explain later we should go like right now,dont know about you but i dont want to find out what their scared of,i mean,this is the felt what do they have to be scared of?"</p><p>"i see your point,then shall we leave together?"</p><p>"that honestly sound like the safest option for the four of us."</p><p>you all decide to head out from the roof and building hop,it sounds dangerous but if even Nero says he can do it then its probably safer than getting shot as soon as you walk out the front,you make it four blocks before you all decide its safe enough to descend.</p><p>"now that we're clear of most dangers i guess we can introduce ourselves more formally,the names dave strider king of irony and god of fresh beats."</p><p>"equis,i love bows but im too strong to,i also build robots just to fight them when i feel frustrated.:</p><p>"*ac introduces herself as nepeta,she says she likes hunting and hanging out with her friends even if they are few in number."</p><p>"Nero,i like taggers and a dabble a bit in parkour,although you probably wouldn't think it looking at me."</p><p>you wont admit that you didn't know he liked either of those,you'll just go along with it like you usually do when your surprised by something.</p><p>"so where are ya guys headin?"</p><p>"we dont really have anywhere safe to go right now."</p><p>"is that so,ok if you trust me enough just follow me."</p><p>you lead them to your and bros old apartment building,once their you explain that this used to bve your apartment but you moved out,however your bro still pays everything here just in case he needs to lay low for awhile.</p><p>"ok so will your bro be fine with this?'</p><p>"ill have to talk it over with him but im sure he will be worse case scenario well have to show up one day and live here for a bit with you guys."</p><p>"i got one more question.....is this at all legal?'</p><p>".....no idea honestly but if your not hurting anybody the cops shouldn't show up so that's one less thing you have to worry about,ok well i have to get going,we stalk the fridge with food and water every few weeks so see if theres anything good in there,oh and one more thing lets all swap contact info."</p><p>when Nero gives his chum handle they look mildly horrified.</p><p>"tell me about it."you say with an awkward smirk,after wrapping up with them and getting them settled in you all part ways,when you get home bro is passed out on the couch.</p><p>"you ganna be ok if i leave you there,i really dont have the energy to carry you tonight."</p><p>he responds with a grunt,you'll take that as an affirmative,despite it being early you feel tired as all hell so you decide to sleep early tonight.</p>
<hr/><p><strike>wake up,wake</strike> up<strike> wake up.</strike></p><p>"your back earlier than i expected you to be"</p><p>".....zeit..?"</p><p>"yes that is what we decided you should call me,have you noticed any anomalies within your self or from day to day life?"</p><p>
  <strike>wake up wake up wake up WAKE UP.</strike>
</p><p>"I seem fine nothing appears to be out of the ordinary,why do you ask,oh wait never mind i remember now,the flames of whats it called"</p><p>"flames of eternal vigor,im  surprised nothing has happend with that,i was expecting something to happen by now....how...interesting,you absorbed it but something within you seems to be suppressing it...how very interesting."</p><p>before your able to talk to them more the clock chimes and your surrounded by more flames,before you can so much of think of saying anything they all come rushing towards you.you feel as if your being torn from limb to limb and maimed and burned thousands of times over but no it seems however long its been it doesn't stop it just keeps coming until your on your knees screaming.</p><p>
  <strike> <strong>wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up</strong> </strike>
</p><p>the flames appear to stop once your on your knee's</p><p>"sorry if that was uncalled for i just had to see something for myself i do hope you come to enjoy the blessing i have bestowed upon you in the near future."</p><p>"what the fuck was that,it was so....painful.:</p><p>"you survived the flames of eternal vigor so i thought i should feed into you the flames of eternal wrath,now this should truly be interesting,oh and do be careful when you  wake,i wouldn't want you to slip and hit your head or anything of the like,now shall i return you."\</p>
<hr/><p>you wake up with a damn-near unbearable headache when you open your eyes it feels like knifes are being thrust in them and your head feels as if the inside of your skull has burst into flames,its a good thing its Sunday because their is no way you are moving from this spot,you can go down the list of all the pains in your body but you are acutely aware of the heavy feeling coming from your throat but you can still breath fine so if it worsens you'll tell bro then as for the rest of your body you can tell none of those pains would be fatal so thats a good thing you guess,the only things you have to worry about is your eyes,throat and brain if those worsen you'll need to do something.</p><p>~three hours later~</p><p>your feeling better,the fiery feeling in your head has eased up and your able to open your eyes,your throat stopped feeling heavy an hour ago,now that the aches and pains are easing up you have become aware you need to use the bathroom like right now.</p><p>after using the bathroom you head out to get something to eat,your bro seems to have woken up from you entering the room.</p><p>"i guess neither of us had a pleasant night huh?"</p><p>"fucking nightmares,not even a cool glass of booze can solve that problem."</p><p>"i hear ya there man.....so do u want to talk about it?"</p><p>"sorry but not today,id rather not deal with that on a nice day like this."</p><p>"oh i almost forgot,i have some Friends moving into our old apartment,they'll be staying awhile if thats fine with you."</p><p>"ya man i dont care as long as they dont trash the place and we can use it when we need to."</p><p>with that out of the way you get something to eat along with some aj,cant have a good brunch without aj,you feel like your forgetting something halfway through eating....what could you possibly be forgetting so soon after getting up?</p><p>"hey bro what does my daily routine consist of?"</p><p>"you exercise in the morning,contact at least one of your friends and if you have to you run errands,why whats up?"</p><p>"could just be my imagination but i feel like im forgetting something important,well after this im heading out."</p><p>"going to your usual hang out spot."</p><p>"yeah,im thinking about inviting the friends i mentioned earlier,their names are equis and nepeta,anyways i should get going let me just shoot them all a text or something."</p><p>you shoot them all a text telling them to meet on Leiden avenue,when you all meet up you walk to a shack like house...apartment?your honestly not sure what it is but it was abondend for a long time before your bro bought it on a whim,he lets you hang out with your friends here,you head inside and what you are greeted with does not amuse you in the slightest.</p><p>"th'fuck ya'punks doing,this is our turf now,get lost."</p><p>"just to let you ass holes know this place is not abandon its owned by my bro,so your the ones who should get out before i "accidentally"break every bone in your fucking body,get lost on the count of three"</p><p>"we'anit go'in anywhere,dont care who this place belongs to"</p><p>"and i dont care which gangs moved in i can handle you all myself,come at me i dare you."</p><p>somehow you are way more angry than you usually are,you dont know where its coming from but you do know you feel like you want to kill them but you have to rain it in,you dont want to get bro involved in this in any way,you obviously cant do nothing so all you can do is scare them off,you begin the strife by flash-stepping to the first guy and punching him in the ribs,then you kick the seconds guys face knocking lose a tooth,from there on you work up a rythem like proficiency,eventually some of them end up fleeing but a majority think they can handle a fight with you,you scoff st their stupidity,fighting is only making you much more angry,you didn't know you could get this angry but you wouldn't say you hate it in fact you find this  feeling to be interesting,half way through the fight you feel a deep burning sensation crawling across your skin,it doesn't feel unpleasant rather it feels like extra adrenaline the next thing you realize is your hands have burst into flames but it doesn't feel hot,you instinctively use it like a fire ball with out thinking and attack the leader,with that the rest of his gang flees and leaves him here,you get near him and lean down.</p><p>"you should flee with the rest of the others."</p><p>with that he runs like hell out of there,you'll have to inform bro what happend today but your glad he didn't have to get directly involved,he wouldn't have spared a single person,but now you have something else to worry about,you look at your hands which were just in flames....hmm they appear to have stopped,you honestly dont know what triggered that reaction but it saved you some time.</p><p>your name is DAVE STRIDER and you have discovered something new about yourself but you dont know whether that will lead to good or bad thing only<em><strong> time</strong></em> can tell</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. training flame</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>three months after the shack incident as your friends have dubbed it your able to conjure your flames at will however their is still limitations to them.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>three months after the shack incident as your friends have dubbed it your able to conjure your flames at will however their is still limitations to them,like the fact you cant maintain them for more than five minutes or the fact you can only use them as a weak fire ball,self training is turning out to be much harder than you thought it would but when you think about it,it makes sense,you cant be taught by a teacher counting no one has actually randomly discovered they have powers before or at least you think no one has,maybe some of the rumors you heard before weren't all bullshit,in any case you have to hide this power for as long as possible while training it,speaking of which you actually have no idea why your so interested in training it you kinda just have a feeling that you should,your friends are the only ones who'd know about it so you can only trust them for the time being,you know Nero  wont report this to anyone but what about equis and nepeta,they might pose a problem later on but you dont think they'll tell anyone immediately,only three people who know about your ability only three people to trust,you could probably trust bro to but you dont want him being in your business.</p>
<p>maybe you should contact some one while your thinking,mmmm maybe... </p>
<p><span class="dave">turntechgodhead[TG]</span> <span class="pesterlog">began pestering</span> <span class="john">ectobiologist[EB]</span></p>
<p>
  <span class="dave">[TG]yo you online today or what you havent been active for months and the rare times anyones able to get through to you you tell them your busy now please for the love of whatever higher being their might be respond like a normal person for once</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span class="john">[EB]yeah im able to today,sorry about the last few months they've been kinda....hectic,me and my dad had to move out of state for personal reasons were doing fine now but its kinda weird not being in my neighborhood anymore,guess its not really my neighborhood any more is it?im living in the middle of nowhere basically,Tennessee, its weird being away from the place I've lived all my life.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span class="dave">[TG]i can kinda see how that'd be awkward i mean ive never been outside of Huston but if i left id probably feel the same as you bro i hope you can get used to that life even if it does feel insufferable oh thats right i wanted to ask you a hypothetical question ok so say you had the power to manipulate flames how would you train that power to be effective like what would you do to heat them up make them last longer etc</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span class="john">[EB]thats a very specific question dave,i honestly have no idea,maybe see if you could control them to melt certain medals or rocks,id imagine that would be the first step towards heating them up,meditation is the only thing i can think of that would make them last longer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span class="dave">[TG]interesting I guess but isnt meditation pretty hard or something</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span class="john">[EB]it can be,when you meditate you'll eventually reach a point where you'll be thinking very violent thought,dont worry this is normal it doesn't mean you physcotic.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span class="dave">[TG]thats actauly very interesting and good to know that will be beneficial ok so i should probably go my bros calling me</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span class="dave"> turntechgodhead[TG] <span class="pesterlog"> stopped pestering </span><span class="john"> ectobiologist[TG]</span></span>
</p>
<p>
 you think you'll start out with training how hot you can make your flames,maybe you should head to the shack,you'll also invite your friends,they may be able to help.
</p><hr/>
<p>an hour later and you've met up with all your friends,their giving you idea after idea on how to train your flame such as trying to see if you can pull them out from thinking about vibrating molecules to seeing if other moods will pull out the flames easier,so far you only have anger,your glad you invited them even if your not making any progress mainly so you have someone to talk to when you inevitably give up,it turns out your more determined than you think you are though as you end up practicing for quite a few hours,you eventually do have to sleep though,you all end up staying over in the shack,mea your bro won't mind as long as you check in in the morning.</p>
<p>before you and your friends decide to call it quits equis walks up to you.</p>
<p>"so you said you know how to fight right?i want to have a strife do you have any open spaces we can duke it out in?"</p>
<p>"yeah the roof,dont worry its flat enough to where we wont lose our footing oh whats your main specibus?"</p>
<p>"i used to be able to use bowkind but now i just snap them whenever i touch them so i main fist kind,you?"</p>
<p>"bladekind and half blade kind take your pick"</p>
<p>"half blade please"</p>
<p>you both make your way to the roof,you make your way to the far end while he stays close to the entrance preparing himself,you take out your sword and take up your stance,you mouth at him 1...2....3 and lunge at him,he instinctively takes a step back and just barely avoided a right slash,you instantly flash step forward and thrust he dodges and land a right hook on you,you almost forgot how it feels for someone to hit you he also drew some blood,this should be a fun fight,you hop back a few steps before he gets the better of you and assess the situation,hes stronger and faster than he looks,its obvious hes got experience in fights,his reaction time is probably much better than yours,ok so this might be a fight of endurance you hope you can last longer than him or this might be a tie,you lunge at him feigning a right slash and flash step behind him and hit his back with the hilt,he staggers forward while you attempt a left slash he just barely ducks under and roles out the way.</p>
<p>"your better than i expected you to be,but can you dodge forever?"</p>
<p>he gets up and flashsteps to you which catches you off guard,you forgot highbloods could also do that,you just barely jump out the way when you punches,it goes on like this for awhile,neither of you seem to want to stop fighting,it only stops when both of you are collapsed on the roof,nepeta and nero come out to the roof with you.</p>
<p>"so who won,or is it a draw?"</p>
<p>your really hope they weren't watching the whole time,that was kinda brutal,especially Nero,you dont want him to see you fight although from his body language he either has no idea how well you fight or saw the whole thing but doesn't care,you decide not to ask.</p>
<p>"it was a tie,Nero could you carry me to the couch,nepeta  if you could get equis to that would be great."</p>
<p>"nope,were both leaving you guys out here,this is your guesses fault you suffer the repercussions."</p>
<p>oh great your friends are assholes,Nero and nepeta leave you and equis out in the cool night Huston air,its not long before you can hear equis  snoring,speaking of your feeling tired too,maybe you can catch a few z's without catching a cold,you look up at the nigh sky,feels so familiar,your mind feels hazy as you slip out of consciousness.</p><hr/>
<p>"back one more time i see,im surprised just how far you have come already,but try not to push yourself to much,i dont want to use a last resort.:</p>
<p>:last resort?"</p>
<p>"i wouldn't worry about that,what i would worry about is how to proceed,tell me dave,how will you proceed in your world,what will you do with the power you have been given."</p>
<p>"i honestly have no fucking clue,like not even an inkling of one,but something keeps telling me to train my power"</p>
<p>"i see,tell me dave how will you train your flames when you cant even control them properly."</p>
<p>"im sorry i dont understand,i thought i was controlling them properly,what am i missing?"</p>
<p>"are you sure your the one controlling them,or are they controlling you?let me ask the question from earlier,how will you proceed?"</p>
<p>"well my flames can scare people that may be useful but i dont know what for."</p>
<p>"are you sure thats all they can do,what happened when you hit that gang leader with a fireball?"</p>
<p>"i had assumed he just got scared at first but his screaming was a bit to blood curling."</p>
<p>"the answer lies in that event,tell me,why do you think he screamed?"</p>
<p>"he sounded like he was...in...pain...but how.."</p>
<p>"maybe it has something to do with the fact you viewed him as a threat instead of a friend ally or object,if this turns out to be true what will you do with your ability,how will you proceed?"</p>
<p>"if your advice is correct...."you have to take a minute to think about it,theirs really only one thing to do and so far your the only one who can,their have been multiple gangs that have tried marking Huston as their own,you know what you have to do.</p>
<p>"you know what you have to do?"</p>
<p>"yeah i have a pretty good idea but i cant do this alone"</p>
<p>"why not invite your friends?i know your recent friends can fight i just dont know about Nero hes an enigma to even me,all mortals usually have a desire i can see,he doesn't"</p>
<p>"hold up,you can see desire?and how do you see into my reality?"</p>
<p>"yes,and i see through you,what you see i see,what you hear i hear,i am a part of you."</p>
<p>"and my friend Nero is weird?"</p>
<p>"hes not really weird i just kinda feel...wary when your around him,its your choice whether you want to invite him or not."</p>
<p>is he warning you about Nero...why does he feel weary about Nero...you'll have to find out at a later date,you can feel yourself waking up..</p><hr/>
<p>your woken up by equis shaking you,the sky is sunny so its morning.</p>
<p>"hey human,get up,i dont want to take you to the hospital."</p>
<p>"where are my glasses?"</p>
<p>"here,had to take them off you,you weren't waking up without direct sun light,you feeling ok,we did beat each other up quite a bit"</p>
<p>you actually dont feel any pain which kinda worries you but you dont feel light headed or anything when you get up so maybe he just didn't hit as hard as you thought he did,in any case you have to talk to them about your new goal.</p><hr/>
<p>"YOU WANT TO WHAT"they all exclaim at once,apparently telling them straight out you want to be a vigilante was a no go.</p>
<p>"listen guys,we all know about my ability we all know multiple gangs have been making Huston their play ground in recent years all im saying right now is maybe we should find a way to deal with all of them,or we could let them destroy this city from the inside."</p>
<p>they look pissed but you can tell you got through to them.</p>
<p>"so how will you go about doing this?"</p>
<p>"oh my god,have any of you ever seen a movie."</p>
<p>"what is this mysterious movie you speak of?"</p>
<p>"i expect that from another friend not you nep,in any case i want you all to join me,you all should discuss what you want to wear out on patrol,heros need masks if they want to be a proper hero."</p>
<p>"well thats all well and good but we need names,what will our names be?"</p>
<p>"costumes first,discuss the materials you want to use,if you want to center your name around your costume then wait until we build them."</p>
<p>"wait the rest of us dont have powers,what are we supposed to do?"</p>
<p>"equis has strength rivaling mine,nepetas not fooling anyone with her innocent act,and you have parkour knowledge,figure it out."</p>
<p>"aww man,i was really hoping i could keep acting the least bit innocent,what gave me away"</p>
<p>"you almost never talk,i was bound to figure it out sooner or later,if you want to act innocent then maybe you should work on your acting,anyways nep,do you already have a goal in mind for your code name and costume?"</p>
<p>"i only have a rough idea."</p>
<p>"ok well i need to check in with bro in the meantime you all should think carefully about your names and costumes,ill be back in a little while."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. discussing business.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>you leave the hangout leaving your friends to talk amongst themselves while you check in with bro,you take the scenic route to your apartment,ascending the rooftops with precision,once up you take a look around the city,you can hear police sirens,gunshots,and a car exploding,of which you can see the cloud of smoke,if you look farther you can see the warn down and abandoned buildings but even further than that is an atomic waste land from the war 200 years ago,it still amazes you that anyone survived that was,you'd say it was an apocalyptic event but humanity is doing just fine even with high concentrations of radiation,the survivors of the war never talked about it so no one in this day and age has any idea what exactly happend save for the atomic wast and craters,from what you know only a few city's stood after the war,Huston,somehow newyork,some place in Washington and a few others you've never heard of or care about,the sky is starting to darken to black,i thunderstorm is imminent,you like the rain,always makes things....prettier,at least to you,you think its ganna be a good day.</p>
<p>you've stood there for a minute,now its time to get moving,you run to the ledge of the building and jump over to the next one,and the next,and the next,all with ease,you know your skilled at things many people arnt skilled at,roof hoping is one of them,flash stepping is another,a regular seventeen year old doesn't wield a sword either,you do,and you know your damn good at it,maybe you'll incorporate it into your costume.</p>
<p>you eventually do find your way back to the apartment and let yourself inside."hey bro...."bro is standing in the center of the room with his sword drawn,you know what this means,you can feel your face go expressionless,you simply nod and make your way to the roof retrieving your own sword from your specibus,bro doesn't talk when he gets into position and takes his stance,you do the same,bringing your katana up,you both just wait and stare at each other waiting for the other to move first"...................."</p>
<p>".............."</p>
<p>you take the lead lunging at him,he flash dodges to the side and brings a knee to your hip that sends you flying,you manage to land on your feet and immediately lung at him again this time faining a right slash and performing a diagonal slash from his right that he just barley dodges,he brings his sword an inch from your chest which you barely block,you jump back to analyze the situation,bro holds his sword with one hand,his left,hes not moving from his spot much,his right foot isn't on the ground,is it possible he injured it,when?it wouldn't be when he kicked you,hes done that plenty of times before,well you dont have time to think on that,your banking on his leg being injured,you lung again and instead of slashing him with your sword you use your foot to stomp on his foot,he sharply breaths in.</p>
<p>half an hour later your on the floor,huh,this feels like deja vu,you have to ponder that later,you get up and take your stance again,your bloodied and bruised and your pretty sure you have several broken bones,but so is he and so does he,"......is that all?"your taunting him,hes gatta be tired and your calling him out on it,your tired too.</p>
<p>"nah man,im too tired to continue,lets head back."he places his sword in his strife specibius,you do the same and head back inside,its not exactly a rare occurrence when bro calls off a strife,its usually when he believes he cant win.</p>
<p>once your both back inside you each get an ice pack and a first aid kit."i was spending the night at the shack with my friends."</p>
<p>he makes an affirmative noise and walks back to his room,that....was weird.</p>
<hr/>
<p>you go back to the shack and see whats going on with your friends"yo have y'all discussed what you want to do?"</p>
<p>"i...i have no idea what im going to do."that comes from equis</p>
<p>"im designing my costume around a cat."</p>
<p>"and you Nero"</p>
<p>"ever hear of Hermes?the Greek god of messages,or was it messenger of god?supposedly he wielded daggers from time to time,from what i hear he was also a thief too,thats kinda perfect for me dont you think."</p>
<p>"oh,hell yeah dude,you've really thought this through,just make sure your armors light if you go that route."</p>
<p>"of course,i need light armor for parkour remember?"</p>
<p>"well im just ganna do mine revolved around my ability,im ganna use a simple design,Kevlar for the fabric ill use for my shirt and pants and ill apply some more flexible material to my knees and any other part of my body with joints,my arms will be sleeveless,ill wear a simple hood with a black crow mask,ill think of a like,an insignia later,maybe it'll just be a crow."</p>
<p>after you explain some finer details of your suit your friends or now team members discuss training,equis recommends basic hand to hand combat,Nero and you recommend weapons combat and surprisingly nepeta recommends acrobatics,breathing techniques and meditation. and how to refine your powers,it sounds kinda challenging when she explains it but you were expecting that,no one just sprouts a random power out of their ass like you did after all.</p>
<p>you kinda feel out of place among the group for a minute,until Nero speaks up and you lose that train of thought.</p>
<p>"so now that we got all that out of the way,if you dont mind me asking,what the hell happend to you?"</p>
<p>"what?"</p>
<p>"you came here covered in cuts and bruises and you've go a black eye,what,think we wouldn't notice?"</p>
<p>"he is,of course,right,what did happen?"</p>
<p>"me and my bro had a strife,this is a pretty regular thing for us,and im pretty sure my arm is also broken too actually,dont worry he looks just as bad as me."</p>
<p>"ok,but like,why."</p>
<p>"its just a thing we've always done,since i was.....eight i believe."</p>
<p>they all just kinda......look at you in bewilderment,its kinda making you feel uncomfortable,they,thankfully,dont push on it and instead talk about their costumes between their selves,Nero is going for something highly flexible yet can still protect him in fights,equis is going for something high in defense like modified ballistic nylon,nepeta says she want to wear a leather body suit,equis kindly reminds her thats copy right infringement and the author of this story isn't looking to be sued over such bullshit,she says shell make it green and blue and hopefully avoid copyright laws,shell also wear a gas mask,equis says he will as well,you ask Nero what he'll wear as a mask.</p>
<p>"do i actually need to wear a mask though,i mean,its not like i have anyone who knows me outside of you guys,beyond etta i mean,i have no family,hell i dont even have a last name,actually you wouldn't know that now that i think about it,you dont have any of my classes after all,neither does etta.</p>
<p>"i had always suspected actually but you seem to tense up when i bring up the subject,so i just dont ask,the war really fucked some things up for all of us even if we're two hundred years into the future huh,i mean,technically we live in the future with advanced tech and stuff,at least from someone who lived in the twenty first century,but even we got all kinds of problems,i.e the gang wars constantly going on.'</p>
<p>the rain finally breaks and it starts pouring out,you can hear the loud ass thunder crack right outside and the shack rumbles,none of you are scared or move,your all used to it,you actually enjoy it and from the look of things so do the others,you think of all Nero just said,you know some people are born and abondend or something along those lines,thats been a problem ever sense the bombs drooped,the effects of those Gog damn bombs are never going away at this rate,no health care except to the rich,no orphanages which you honestly find to be a good thing according to twentieth century movies and so on,all taxes basically go to military spending and what used to be states living right by each other are basically their own country's now,your surprised school is still a thing even if its not strictly mandatory,they still check in with a student and their guardians if they've been absent for an extended amount of time,your thoughts spiral like this for about an hour and judging from the silence the others are thinking of the same thing or something similar.</p>
<p>"not to break the thought process or anything but we should make something or maybe order something,anything you guys want?"</p>
<p>they all just kinda look a little....sad?you think maybe they dont want to eat right now,nepeta goes to equis and paps him on the cheek,you go to Nero and give him an awkward to the side bro hug,damn,you didn't know they'd get this sad just thinking about something like this,you all stay like that until you fall asleep,no one moves you all kinda just...shut your eyes and are whisked away by dreams,you dont dream of anything special,just nightmares,your not visited by zeit or any other super natural spirit or beings,just a regular nightmare which honestly,your fine with,you'd much rather go through nightmares than real life sometimes,at least they remind you you can still lose to something even if its not real,makes you feel more human.</p>
<p>when you wake everybody's still here,they're all getting up now too,except Nero,hes making a pizza while taking a shower,when he comes out hes shirtless,his body kinda reminds you of yours,scares all over,you can see two from where hes been impaled,luckily they both missed anything vital or he wouldn't be here,you can also see gunshot wounds and regular run of the mill battle scares,you dont even think he knows everybody is up and staring at him,except you of course,your used to having a body like that,if you lifted your shirt up right now you'd have very similar scares except for the gunshot wounds,the trolls arnt used to the concept of scares or at least,not too many scares like you and him,their brains are probably computing that hes a worrier through in through,you cant blame them for thinking like that,old alternia really fucked their instincts and thinking patterns,which is another thing,trolls are still kinda new to earth,only arriving about thirty years ago in a run down warp ships,they didn't say why they were here at first,eventually some of them confessed to apparent crimes,when they run down what was all i crime on alternia local authority's told them to stop,they had a pretty good idea of what alternia was like and most could only describe it as hellish,every troll on those ships became citizens of where ever their ships landed,Houston had two,new York had two,and Washington had three,you dont know about some other places but if your assuming one for every standing city it would be about twenty,maybe more but you wouldn't go past thirty.</p>
<p>you honestly just need to stop thinking,the train of thought just does something to you that you dont like,you instead try to get Nero's attention.</p>
<p>"hey Nero,were uhh all up."your glad you sleep with the shades on because you have to retract the statement from earlier,you are staring,hopefully no one notices.</p>
<p>he just kinda looks at you all and goes to the kitchen,presumably to take the pizza out.</p>
<p>"here y'all are,pizza,nice and simple."</p>
<p>you all start eating,Nero and equis trying not to stare at him,nepeta failing greatly with equis.....somewhat successful,your completely successful until your done eating thats when you get a look at his back to as he goes to some room down the hall way,hes more seriously scared down his back,you'd guess it was by daggers,you kinda find that ironic,him liking daggers when they've hurt him so badly so often,your surprised nothing hit anything vital yet,how is he not dead?your almost sure hes broken his bones repeatedly,you also wonder how hes not permanently injured,he is one tough fucker,you'll give him that.</p>
<p>when he comes back out its with a suit and.....is that is fucking costume?</p>
<p>"when did you....."</p>
<p>"i only sleep for like two hours a night so i used my time to make it,do you like it."</p>
<p>its blue,made out of a very flexible material that will no doubt show to much if he doesn't wear like shorts or maybe a skirt,hes already got an insignia,two daggers with blood dripping down them onto bullets  that have smoke coming off them on the back,its actually pretty good,well thought out,the chest portion does have light armor resembling the Greek gods abs and chest and he actually decided he' wear a mask,an ancient Greek looking one,when he puts it on to show you all you are very impressed,he made it himself with his own idea in mind.</p>
<p>from then on you all actually go to your own rooms and begin making your suits,you use modified red Kevlar for shirt and pants,you use a bloody crow as your insignia,you use some left over stretch material left over from neros costume to put onto the knee portion so you can move easier,you dont bother making it with sleeves,your arms should be open and ready to swing a sword at all times,you find a crow mask and dye it black with red splash marks on one side,you also use a voice modifier in your design,unlike nero you have family,for foot wear you modify some combat boots so you can,run faster,kick harder,and jump farther,all in all you have fun making it,even if you did regularly need neros help,you didn't have the first clue how to sew until he showed you how.</p>
<p>when you done you show them how you look with your suit on.</p>
<p>"not bad,could use some work still but we have a minute yet."comes from nero</p>
<p>"your knowledge of those fabrics indicate you've though of something like this for a long time,...very long to."comes from equis</p>
<p>nepeta doesn't say anything but stares at your costume in wonder,she obviously likes that it looks like steel and muscle and straight up badassery.</p>
<p>equis and nepeta are next,equis did in fact get his hands on bylistic nylon,and he did modify it,he went sleeveless like you too,his modification is basically to his whole costume from head to toe,his shirt is modified to be a hell of a lot more sturdy than any ballistic nylon you could get on earth,you expect some alternia tech was involved,his pants are mode of the same thing except modified to be more flexible for when he has to run and so he doesn't constantly feel sweat down there,his shoes are modified so he can survive jumps from higher heights,again,alternia tech,his gas mask is bullet proofed by another material your not sure about,probably some rare alternia fabric,now that you think about it his whole suit could be described as alternia tech.</p>
<p>nepeta wears a green leather suit under a blue bullet proof vest,her gas mask is the same as equise's,shes also wearing a knee high skirt thank Gog,her weapons appear to be the blue claws she built</p>
<p>after your all done showing off what you built you discuss super hero names and gadgets you could build in the future,you decide to ask equis about alternia tech later on so you can build some truly over powered shit,but for right now you'll enjoy the company of friends and hatch out your plans,who to target first,which gangs should you not mess with right now,who are the main gangs in the wood work,who all is staying out of whos way,who's all partnered with who etc,you get the feeling this is ganna be a long next few months.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>well that took forever,ill eventually format more pesterlogs but for right now i want to focus on world building and characterization.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. months of prep.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>this chapter will span months at a time so dave will get a serious power boost,in fact,everyone does.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>you all discuss the gangs,namely the felt and a newer one,the midnight crew,apparently the ladder consists of only four people,highly dangerous though,and you dont know what they want,they haven't claimed anything,you all agree not to mess with those two for right now,you discuss about a gang of all purple bloods,both sea dweller and land dweller,their another dangerous group calling themselves the atomic messiahs,how appropriate,there another one consisting of  low bloods roughing up the neighbor hood,apparently they're the ones whom you beat the shit out of during the shack incident,its not an all troll gang though because humans are welcome in their ranks,their also in a feud with the high blood gang,theirs another group,not a gang,but terrorists,they call themselves the high consorts,they believe their species are the perfect species,they take humans and torture them for days on end until they slowly die painful deaths,they cant do shit to trolls though,so thankfully their almost completely "disbanded"save for a few locations throughout the city,theirs another gang right outside the city in the wastelands calling themselves men of god,an all human and extremely religious group that have done unspeakable things to the troll population and to the humans of whom associate with trolls,you decide their first on your shit list as do the other members,its a good thing they dont have allies,this will be easy,theirs only one problem,y'all dont have a car or dune buggy or anything to get you their,you all decide you have plenty of time to hand build something.</p><p>later you ask equis about alternia tech,apparently he has free access to as much as he want because hes considered a high blood,which works out in your favor,you speak to him about mixing tech's for whatever you make the vehicle,whether it be a buggy car van motor bike(s) etc,he says its possible but highly difficult,you say theres still a lot of time between now and then,later on you begin meditation and breath training,you all agreed to start with that before anything else a month goes by in the blink of an eye and you have more stamina,you all decided to have separate vehicles,you go with a motorcycle equis and nepeta go with what looks like sports cars and nero goes with what looks like a highly armored modified truck,you've also made alterations to all of your costumes with alternia tech,you and equis made some basic gloves and altered them for your own benefit,you altered them to have better grip,equis modified his so he can hit harder,nero incorporated it into his Greek god abs,thats what your all calling it now,essentially making it more sturdy,nepeta kept her mod's a secret but you assume its her claws.</p><p>you end up bringing all your teammates together regularly,nepeta has taught you five different breath techniques and two ways to meditate,both have helped you immensely,but you need to move on with other forms of training,you gather all your friends again to discuss hand to hand combat training,equis teaches all of you a few different forms from alternia all of which seem like modified basics to karate that takes about two months to master all of them,on almost all days you gathered for his instructions you came back to your apartment beat to shit,bro didn't strife with you once but he in his own way basically said he knew what your doing and hes proud of you for it,equis makes one tough ass teacher,next was weapons training,you and nero taught this time,you showing them the basics of how to use a sword and nero showing them how to use daggers and target vitals for humans,after some debate equis gave him a book on the anatomy of trolls,you didn't train in weapons for two weeks until he was done studying that book,and instead had nepeta teach you about acrobatics,its not too different from what you do on a daily basis,nero and you take to it and learn a few new things in the first week,nepeta seems disappointed you learn so fast,for the second week you back on breathing and meditation training,you have a bit more stamina after that too,it seems the breath training is really useful,the meditation part of training just teaches you concentration which you actually have trouble with,when nero comes back he gives you all a run down on troll anatomy which takes a week in of itself,he forces everyone to use wooden daggers during his training and tells them to aim for vitals and pressure points,you do well along with nepeta,equis doesn't do so good,you and nep move on to building your own cars while nero trains equis some more,you build your motorcycle within a month,equis is still training with nero but apparently he's doing much better although he breaks the wooden dagger from time to time,you come up with a pretty badass motorcycle you think,it has a red frame and some solid black wheels,you mixed it with alt tech to make it faster,a bullet proof window comes up over the seat just right so you can lean in and be secure,its also capable of flight under the right conditions.</p><p>nep doesn't say how she modified hers,another secret,after your vehicle is done you think about your next move,you shouldn't just rush in there with your head up your ass,that means you need to scout,which also means you'll need a certain device capable of long range sonar scans or something similar,you'll have to ask bro to try and get it for you,he has his ways.</p><p>after nep's done with her vehicle you talk with her over what you've thought about."well we do need to do some reckon or we might actually end up dead,we should find out what their armed with how many people they have among other things,id ask equis,he'd probably know more about military strategy."</p><p>you ask her about power training,she seems surprised you still remember that,you end up in training for four months in which time your bro finds a variety of long range scanners,including a communication scanner,radar,sonar and thermal,you probably dont need the communications one just yet,after your training with nep is over you figure out a few things,such as you dont need a source of fire or light to create fire,you can turn the flame different colors but it hurts like hell but wont damage your skin,you've also been able to heat up the flames without thinking about threats around you,you still have a long way to go before you consider this second nature though.</p><p>when the training is all done for everyone you all come together again,you discuss weapons mod's and mods in general,you dont end up doing anything with that right now though and instead focus on your plan,you discuss basic recon and thee tech you use,you take all scanning tech even if it wont help,you install them into your vehicles,you get sonar,nep gets radar,equis gets communication and nero gets thermal,equis and nero haven't built their vehicles yet though so they put the scanners into a spare room and lock it up tight,after their done building their vehicles all your prep is complete and you can move to the second phase,that takes them three months,after that you call everyone for one last strife before moving on these so called "men of god."</p><p>its a good thing you called for a strife in the morning because this fucking thing lasts until the next day,its an all person for themselves battle and your all equally matched by now,no one seems to be running out of breath and no ones flinching when hit,not even you or nero,thats when it hits you,you have all turned yourselves into true warriors,you think nero  realizes this too,equis actually looks really fucking swoll now,same for nero and you,nep didn't change much but shes definitely much stronger that much your sure of,the proof is right their on your bleeding chest and face,so far shes hit you the most,nero and eq match up pretty nicely,after the strife(which you had to call off or it wouldn't stop until someone was dead)you call everyone into the shack again to discuss one more important detail,what will your code names be,you go with desolate crow,nero debates his before coming up with a simple one:the thief,equis debates his as well before coming up with "one man army"you all decide for him and come up with "the mob" nepeta decides on lion tamer.</p><p>after that you go home,your bro is waiting for you again this time.</p><p>long story short,you <em><strong>fucking win</strong></em> hes beat to shit and honestly you barely tried,you really have gotten a hell of a lot stronger haven't you?</p>
<hr/><p>later on you fall in to another dream.</p><p>"im glad to see you've made excellent progress,breaking the limits of a human quite easily,and thats only from training,imagine what kind of transformation you'll go through once you begin to fight actual battles,i hope you wont disappoint me,or rather,yourself."</p><p>"holy shit,zeit?i haven't heard from you in months!,what the hell happend to you?"</p><p>"ive been hanging around the deepest parts of your mind,its quite interesting in here you know,a hell of a lot of untouched anger just waiting to be released,and some other things which tell me you defiantly wont disappoint me."</p><p>"so for the past month you decided to be a creep?man get a life."</p><p>"i really dont have a choice in the matter,i am at my very being,technically you,the deepest and strongest part of you,but,i am also a god."</p><p>"how the fuck does that work?"</p><p>"i wouldn't ask that if i were you,your intelligence is still limited,instead ask something else."</p><p>"i really dont have anymore questions,and if i do end up wanting to ask something i can always come back here,or rather,you can pull me back here."</p><p>"quite true my young self/,quite true."</p><p>"well i guess their is one,what are you the god of?"</p><p>"im the god of fire,flame,war,time,death and a few other things,i just go by zeit though,and i will until i become fully assimilated as part of you.:</p><p>"wait are you saying ill become a god eventually."</p><p>"thats a very basic understanding of my words but for the sake of simplisity,yes,yes i am,and you dave strider,will be one of the strongest to ever exist,your almost their already,you just have to fight actual battles and be serious about it,hopefully you find the current gangs to be...shall we say,worthy of receiving your mighty ass kicking/"</p><p>"holy shit,you really are a part of me arnt you?"</p><p>"i said that i was,continue breaking the limits of your humanity and enter god hood,i will tell you this before you go,you are not alone,their are others who will become gods along side you,thirty two people,none of them have begun to awaken though so your the only one with these powers."</p><p>"wait,do i already know any of them?"</p><p>"two of your teammates,your pesterchum friends and your long lost brother."</p><p>"wait i have a brother?"</p><p>with that your cast out of the dream.</p>
<hr/><p>you wake up with a bit of a headache,always happens when you wake up from zeit's dreams,he said to break the limit of humanity,which your taking as get stronger and fast,that wont be a problem you plan to constantly train yourself from here on out,but something else is disturbing you,you.....aperantly have a brother out there somewhere,you wonder if hes in a different city?or maybe he's still somewhere in Houston,completely unaware he has a brother,you....cant tell anyone about this,not yet at least,you'll try to hunt him down eventually,should be easy with facial recognition software,for that whole day you dont really have anything planed so you just enter a deep meditation for around five hours,when you come to again your phones going off,you answer and equis is on the other line,you go over some details about recon,all in all its actually a really boring chat that you wish you hadn't answered,when he finally gets off the damn phone you let out a really fucking loud sigh,he's a great friend and all but he talks for a really fucking long time sometimes.</p><p>you go back to a deep meditation,this time when you come to its night time,you're losing track of time in your trances,which from what you know,is actually a good thing,proves that its working,you get up and make yourself something to eat and put on a movie......the op starts first thing in the morning....you'll need to actually rest,your not that good with meditation yet to where your body will count it as sleep,your getting there though,you eat and watch a shitty b-rated movie before officially going to bed again</p>
<hr/><p>you get up rather early and head straight to the outskirts of town with all the abandoned buildings,you all meet up in what was formally wcmonalds,you all arrive in your vehicles,now that you know it all works thats even more badass,everyone looks really good in their suits,especially nero,and the armored truck he built looks badass,you all discuss where their hide out is in relation to you,its about twenty miles from here in the wast land,good thing you also decided to make your vehicles radiation proof.</p><p>once done discussing you all move out at top speed,it only takes about a minute to get in range of the building,you order your teammates to boot up the scanners,you get a layout of the building and the personnel,looks to be about sixty armed members,thats just above ground,the basement shows even more,maybe in the hundreds although you cant tell if their armed or not,well you know you can take the ones above ground,you have the power to call it or retreat for now,you've been prepping for this for months,you know what your doing,you tell the others to storm the place.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Equis and nepeta go first,nero and you flank from the back of the hide out while equis and nepeta draw all the members attention,once inside you and nero search for explosives,you eventually find a room with a generator and decide you should steal it,hey power doesn't come cheap in this city,you'll use it for something,you hope.</p><p>It seems nepeta and equis are causing quite the ruckus as almost everyone has went to handle the two leaving most of their base unguarded, that gives you the chance to blow this place up,hey no one said you'd be good heroes, equis had made some homemade c4 at first you didn't know what it was but he told you it's like c4 just times,guess you'll have to set it and get the hell out.</p><p>"Dave please hurry the hell up,I want to get some chicken wings in my stomach before 10 tonight "</p><p>"Yeah yeah give me a moment damnit,dont wanna accidentally blow us up too,or are you intrested in being as scorched as your cooking"</p><p>"Fuck you"</p><p>"Fuck you"</p><p>Equis comes over the com and tells you both of your coms are still on,and then tells you both to shut the hell up,in nice words of course,equis can't swear for his life.</p><p>..AAAANnnnnnnnd Done!</p><p>"Its ready to blow everyone retreat!"</p><p>And like that nero and you run like hell,you have ten minutes,by far more than enough time to leave the compound but you run anyway,you dont wanna stay any longer than you have to,you run and run but before you get to the exit you and nero are surrounded by left over guards,you bunch,kick,headbutt,and bite your opponents but that doesn't seem to be enough so you decaphoulouge your sword and start to slice and stab your opponents,you think you actually kill multiple bit your a little busy to actually check, nero is holding his own as well,those daggers weren't just for style,he cuts through his enemies easily withal smile plastered on his face,your glad hes on your side,you take them down one after another until there's only one left,the guy also uses a sword,he initiates some sort of ancient sword duel,you forget what their called but you gladly accept,in those few moments their is no one and nothing but you and him,you slash first,then he swings overhead,you swing horizontally and kick him,he grunts,eventually you go in for a finale blow,you go in for the fastest flash step stab you can muster,annnnnd,you stab his heart,but not before he swings his blade at the hand holding the katanna,by the time you notice it it's too late,your arm has been chopped off,you let out a blood curdling scream as nero picks you up and runs,by the time your outside you have stopped screaming but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like hell,nepeta gives you basic first aid while nep and nero dont know what to do,you feel yourself start to pass out as more and more blood pools out of you,your able to muster just a few more words out of your mouth before you go unconcious.</p><p>"Etta,get......etta,tell her,hide out adress,dave,cybernetic arm,right...."</p><p>You have no idea what you said but they all give you a funny look.</p><hr/><p>You wake up at the hide out,was,was that a dream?it felt so real,you wiggle your right hand,it feels like you still have one,you take it from out of the covers and look at it,you just kinda stare at it,you wiggle the fingers a few more times,it....feels like a hand,you put it back under the covers and wiggle them there,you take them out again and look at it,its obviously cybernetic because normally you dont have fiery red vein in your hands,its not like a barly noticable color of red either it is full on blood and fire red,most times you'd think veins would be purple and blue but not this hand,its obviously cybernetic but your not sure why your so sure or how you'd know that,you get up and OH you need to lay back down a minute,that made you very dissy and nauseous,you wait for about five minutes before attempting it again this time very very slowly,once up you walk to the living room part of your hideout and notice nero etta equis and nepeta all looking very stressed ad tired.</p><p>"Yo,couldn't wait for me to wake I see"</p><p>They all turn kinda sluggishly and stare at you,etta speaks first </p><p>"...how's the hand"</p><p>"I take it you built this?"she looks at you funny and slowly nods.</p><p>"Sooooo,anyone hungry?"they all nod,ok so guess your making something, screw it no one loses when pizza is involved,you grab a few frozen pizzas and throw them into the oven.</p><p>It only takes fifteen minutes for all them to finish cooking, after that for a bunch of tired sluggish people they all eat pretty dam fast,of course your still the first to finish off five slices,you didn't even realize you were that hungry until you started eating ,while your still eating you ask everyone why they look so gloom and tired.etta speaks up first. </p><p>"Well as for the stressed out part w all had a hand in building that little beauty"she poins at your right hand.</p><p>"Pun fully intended"</p><p>"It had better be"you smirk,you feel kinda weird not having your original hand but this is kinda awsome and incredibly ironic in of itself.</p><p>"Wait,you said everyone was involved with this"you hold it up"so I'm guessing this is no ordinary cybernetic,are there features or something?"</p><p>"There are a literally fuck ton but I'm to tired to recall them now so after I get some sleep,as for why we're gloomy,as you asked earlier, we're all wanted by the state,and by we I mean all of you guys,not me,you see you did get rid of a gang but that doesn't mean yall get a free pass,vigilantes are still illegal no matter how far in the future you think we are,so,as leader of you band of misfits what will you do?"</p><p>"Fuck it,we take on the government,just not right now,we're still undermanned, now that you know our secret what do you plan to do?"</p><p>"I kinda feel like you and nero will both kill me if I say I won't join so I'll join,I just won't go in the field, however I can still be a useful mechanic and cybernetic expert,along with an extensive knowledge of the medical field I should be quite valuable to yall"</p><p>"Astute observation,I'm glad your willing to join us,may you tell me why you refuse to go into the feild?"</p><p>"I'm.....extremely afraid of death......and I think I'm rather allergic to losing my limbs."</p><p>She grimly reminds you while pointing to your hand.</p><p>"Fair enough, OK EVERYONE GO THE FUCK TO SLEEP"</p><p>You rarely tell so it's kinda awsome the rare times you do and everyone jumps,heheheh,well,you'll have to tell them all you plan on going against the government later on,that's ganna be a hell of a thing to explain.</p><hr/><p>Your name is Dirk strider,and fuck life and everyone in it,fuck the government fuck your bro and.....well,you could never really hate dave,he did nothing wrong,you basically took care of him in your younger years when bro wasn't even a competent human being,hell he still isn't competent and your pissed you had to leave dave in his so called "care"  when you were younger,if you were just a tad bit older maybe you could have faught for him,but then you realize that bro has everyone in his back pockets,the police,the judges,the lawyers,fucking everyone,your pissed at everyone and everything,but most of all your pissed at yourself, everyday since that day you've lived with self hatred,you can only find comfort in one night stands and alchohol,drowning your sorrows in the sins of lust and...gluttony?everyone in this stupid fucking town knows the name dirk strider,why you ask?because you slept with everyone at least once,you dont care if people start calling you names behind your back,they dont know you so they can fuck right off,you take another shot of gin and wallow in self hatred,waiting for the few people who have stuck by you in these few long as all hell years,every year feels like an eternity unto itself and that eternity seems to never end,well,of course you guess eternitys arnt supposed to end,but you dont really give two shits right now how bad your analogys are.</p><p>The first person to make it here besides you is jake,you can't really remember much in your drunken stupor but you think you dated him once,you can't really remember,then again you think you dated Roxy too but your not Intrested in women so why would you date roxy?</p><p>Well actually scratch that you think you can figure that one out with minimal brain power,she was the first one to truly accept all your faults,she also can see right past your self hatred and everything going on in your brain.</p><p>Now adays she's more like a sister than anything.</p><p>And the last one to arrive is jane,roxy and Jane are dating now if you remember correctly, huh,now that you pay attention just a bit more they make a cute couple,now that everyone's here you can go in the back of the "bar" and talk,you make a signal to the "dj" to tell him to turn the volume up,you make another hand gesture to tell them to follow,once yourall back there you talk freely.</p><p>Jake goes first.</p><p>"Alright my good chumes I dare say we're the best around when it comes to all this and what not but I feel my time is.....coming to an end,in a general sense...."</p><p>He looks away as he says that,everyone looks glum and depressed,Jake has had many medical issues in the past,his body doesn't take kindly to the high radiation in the city,hes had multiple confirmed forms of cancer,no one in your group has any idea of how long he has left,but judging by what he just said he doesn't have long.</p><p>You talk in JSL,you would talk normally but the deep ass scare on your neck should give away that you can't talk normally, you built an  ai to help you but hes gone awol,now you need to sign,you never actually memorized American sign language but you did memorize Japanese sign language,what can you say,you love your animes,specifically pre-nuclear war animes,GET IN THE FUCKING ROBOT SHINJI.</p><p>That may have gotten out of hands,your glad you can't mumble what you think or everyone would be looking at you,anyway back on topic.</p><p>&lt;&lt;jake,i hope you know we all love you,you better not leave us without putting up one hell of a fight,if you dont put up a fight I'll come to hell just to kick your ass&gt;&gt; </p><p>You get a chuckle out of him.</p><p>"Dont worry dirk,I'll fight till the very end and then some,I'll fight even if past hells gate,ill scare the Dickens out of old scratch himself!"</p><p>Hes still got a smile that warms your heart,you hope that doesn't change even in death,you have all agreed that if anyone in your group dies they have a Vikings funeral,you figure it'll be ironic enough.</p><p>&lt;&lt;I'll hold that to you English &gt;&gt;</p><p>"I expect nothing less strider,now as I was saying,I think realistically I only have one or two scuffles left in me,so,let's give everyone one hell of a fight on our next mission,speaking of,roxy."Jake looks to roxy.</p><p>"Di-stri,your probably ganna hate me for this but we have to go back to Houston. </p><p>&lt;&lt;fuck you,fuck no,never,fuck that entire city&gt;&gt;</p><p>"Ok,before you say anything else watch this"</p><p>She hands you a small tablet,on it are......are they dressed like super heros?why the fuck are they.......IS THAT DAVE???!!!</p><p>that fucking idiot!</p><p>&lt;&lt;we have to go now,that idiot just barly concealed his identity, his mask is way to short,and he used a sword,only the strider clan uses swords,we need to hurry,I need to ask him what the fuck hes thinking&gt;&gt;you down the rest of your gun and get up and make a follow motion to everyone,this is ganna be a hell of a week.</p><hr/><p>"Welcome back dave"</p><p>"Zeit,so,looks a bit more lively in here,can I assume that means I'm growing stronger?"</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>You look around the......room?ok it's more of an empty space but it's a limited empty space so your ganna call it a room,you seem to be surrounded by flames of all color,under you are blue flames,above you is green,the walls are  red flame,and in the center between you and zeit stands a sword with an interesting design,long handle, a dragon etched into the blade,but it looks a bit lacking right now.</p><p>"Are you admiring the sword?"</p><p>"Not exactly,something is lacking,like.....whoever's wielded this didn't respect the way of the blade,like they viewed it as no more than garbage and threw it out,they didn't view it as an extension of their selves."</p><p>"What if I told you that's how you view your power,as nothing more than garbage?"</p><p>You think for a moment. </p><p>"Well your not completely wrong,I have mishandled my power,or more accurately, haven't used them,not because I think its garbage but because deep down,I think I'm scared of hurting my teamates."</p><p>"Dave,tell me one thing,why do you admit that so easily to me?"</p><p>"I guess I'm just now realizing your an extension of me,hell,technically we're the same being at this point in time,so I have no problem with what I tell you because you are me,my teammates are different, I feel like I have to put on a brave face all the time around them,like if I dont they'll worry and won't succeed in this upcoming war,and yes I did say war,but only am I wageing a war against all the gangs,but the state wants to interfere to,so I'm ganna storm the place and teach them a lesson they'll never forget."</p><p>"Quite ambitious are we,well before you do any of that you need to train more,I have to go,one more thing,you can summon this sword at will,its a little dull still but remember, you can sharpen it by training youself,mind,body,power,spirit."</p><p>And like that zeuts presence disappears,however your still here,you usually leave before him or with him,you look to the sword,when your eyes fall upon it you start to move by instinct,you place your hands upon it and pull it out,once it comes all the way out you hear the loudest roar in your life and the flames from around you envelope you again,its not painful this time,maybe because you trained your vessel,that doesn't stop you from nearly pissing yourself,the sword disappears into your arm and an insignia is left,this time on your forearm,a dragon,sweet you guess. And now you can feel yourself disappearing.</p><hr/><p>You wake up and look at your arm,the left one,the dragon insignia is there,you didn't think those dreams would actually affect what happens in the real world but apparently you can get sweet tattoos from zeit,sweet. </p>
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